Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Notes for Tuesday

Letter from our diocesan administrator (while we wait for a new bishop: Our Lady of Joyful Hope-ora pro nobis!) on voting:

"We must not be guided by the so called 'lesser ot two evils' or attempt to justify the acceptance of intrinsic evil for some greater good. We may never embrace evil. We must follow the commandment, 'thou shall not kill' and the Beatitude, 'blessed are the merciful.'"

He goes on to talk about the "affronts to basic dignity" that is abortion. This certainly disqualifies Mr. Obama, but seems to disqualify Mr. McCain too....

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Reading more of Reid Buckley's family story, he talks about waiting for their Dad to come in from New York city (to their home in CT) every Friday. (He was gone all week.) It reminds me of my own childhood. Some of us used to wait by the window on cold dark winter evenings waiting for Dad to come home. Once spotted (but we had to be sure it was his car) one of us would tear down the stairs and try to get the garage door opened in time for him to pull in without stopping or pausing.

We are convinced that the world can be saved only by a return to these ideas: voluntary poverty, manual labor, works of mercy, hospitality. They are fundamental. They are more important than getting out a paper, than lecturing, than writing books. And yet we have to do those things because we must give a reason, as St. Peter says for the faith that is in us. (And our faith must be tried as tho by fire") an old teaching.

These ideals keep coming back at me. I need to pray more...

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A couple reminders... The Feast of the Our Lady of the Rosary-aka Our Lady of Victory is coming up on October 7th. A great way to explain this story to pre-readers and early readers is our book "The Story of Our Lady of Victory" by Agnes M. Penny. Read the poem and see some of the illustratons here (read other excerpts of books also at The Requiem Reader ).

Also, November will be here before you know it. We have given away a couple thousand of our "Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering-a daily committment to praying for the holy souls in purgatory." A couple years ago several of my readers here bailed the Curley family out of some dire straits by purchasing these books in bulk at a great discount-but more importantly, these kind souls provided a means for others to pray for the holy souls and relieve their suffering. Once again we'd like to encourage you to buy some of these booklets (which fit in purse or pocket) and distribute them, so many of us will pray daily for these souls. The booklet comes with a brief explanation of the practice. Read the explanation and a sample of the prayers here.

I agree that the line is difficult to draw! I hope I'm not on the wrong side of this in my advocacy of McCain.

I think the difference between abortion and contraception is clear for most Americans because intuitly they see that wearing a condom is completely different from killing a baby in the womb. I think they see it as roughly the difference between lusting in your heart and committing adultery.

I think most Americans think the action of killing what has now a unique DNA (sperm + egg) is different than preventing the flow of sperm from reaching its destination.

BUT -- I've never believed that we could win the gay marriage issue without a realization that contraception is wrong, because the purpose of marriage and procreation has to be linked.

Pro-lifers have had trouble with McCain because of McCain-Feinstein bill also which limits ads by 3rd-party agencies at some point during a campaign (never really understood it completely, but I'm sure most lobby organizations have gotten around it.)

There is a frustration I think that we're being used to win elections and thrown away.

For all of Deal Hudson's praise of GW on stem cell-it was GW that opened the door for government funding, something that Bill Clinton declined to do.

Granted GW gaves us two justice who look okay (and that's BIG)-but tried not to. And he doesn't LEAD on life issues (he squandered the opportunity on gay marriage. Strike while the iron is hot-but he had oppostion at the hightest levels.

McCain seems even less committed (clearly critical of the type SCJ Bush picked until he realized that he needed us to win) and is still (contrary again to Deal Hudson's reports) publically supporting embryonic stem cell research. Gay marriage is being ignored.

I see McCain as not an incremental step forward, but a step backward. If he wins, he shows that we can be ignored even more by the GOP. Some might argue that S. Palin proves his committment. But VP's are throw-aways. They have has much or as little power and input as the Prez. wants.

I hope I am wrong. And certainly, maybe I am just bellyaching and trying to find an excuse to vote 3rd party again. Obama is a diaster. (McCain is too, but in different ways and could have an upside.)

Keep in mind the VP becomes the defacto leader of the party after the President's term in office, so Palin is huge. I would not have voted for McCain if he'd picked Ridge or some other pro-choicer, precisely (and only) for that reason.

I think my expectations of politicians are lower than yours, while mine are higher with respect to church leaders. I rarely if ever hear a homily on divorce, or birth control, or stem cell research or even abortion. If i heard our pastors speaking out about it, then maybe I'd expect our president to. I expect the most from our leaders, rather than secular leaders.

A Word

Sinner, husband (don't they go together?) and father of .... well, counting. Also patent agent, physics instructor, homesteader, sometimes writer, ex-quail farm hand, ex-paper boy, ex-publisher, ex-editor, ex-research engineer, and ... well you get the picture.I am available to speak for large and small fees on just about any topic, especially those I am interested in.